Wales team announcement Live as Taulupe Faletau misses out and big change made
Faletau's involvement had been in doubt earlier in the week - with the Cardiff No. 8 not training with the squad in Kobe on Tuesday after suffering with cramp in last week's extreme conditions. Aaron Wainwright replaces the 34-year-old at the back of the scrum, with Taine Plumtree taking up a place on the bench.
There's two other changes in the pack, with second-row Freddie Thomas replacing the injured Ben Carter and tighthead Archie Griffin starting after Keiron Assiratti didn't train on Tuesday.
There's just one change in the backline, with Ospreys fly-half Dan Edwards being handed a start in the 10 jersey ahead of Sam Costelow.
Saturday will be Edwards' third cap and his first start for Wales, having made his debut off the bench in this year's Six Nations.
He partners club team-mate Kieran Hardy, who retains the scrum-half jersey from last weekend.
On the bench, there's set to be three more debuts. Dragons tighthead Chris Coleman is in line for his first cap, as are Ospreys duo Reuben Morgan-Williams and Keelan Giles.
For Giles in particular, a first cap has been a long time coming. The winger was initially named on the bench when Wales faced Japan in 2016, but he didn't get on.
Since then, he's toured Tonga and Samoa in 2017, while he was also named in last summer's squad to tour Australia - but had to pull out injured. Every time, a maiden cap for Wales has evaded him.
Last week's new cap, Liam Belcher, keeps hold of his place on the replacement's pine.
Wales are looking to bounce back from last week's 24-19 defeat in Kitakyushu, which stretched the losing run at Test level to 18 and dropped Wales down to 14th in the world rankings.
Having named his team, Sherratt will face the press at 6am UK time - which you can follow in the live blog below.
Wales: Blair Murray; Tom Rogers, Johnny Williams, Ben Thomas, Josh Adams; Dan Edwards, Kieran Hardy; Nicky Smith, Dewi Lake (c), Archie Griffin, Freddie Thomas, Teddy Williams, Alex Mann, Josh Macleod, Aaron Wainwright.
Replacements: Liam Belcher, Gareth Thomas, Chris Coleman, James Ratti, Taine Plumtree, Tommy Reffell, Reuben Morgan-Williams, Keelan Giles.
Live updates below:
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
BBC News
3 hours ago
- BBC News
Burke feels force of destiny in Scotland debut
New Zealand-born Fergus Burke feels like "it was meant to be" after making his Scotland debut in the southern 25-year-old Saracens fly-half was in Gregor Townsend's squad for this year's Six Nations, but it was not until Friday's 29-14 summer tour defeat by Fiji that he earned his first could be quickly followed by a second against Samoa at Eden Park in the land of his birth on Friday and, not surprisingly, he has "a fair few people" chasing him for tickets."I've had a few messages from people I haven't heard from for a while, but I'll hopefully get a good contingent of support there and it'll be cool," Burke said."It is a weird one. Obviously I was in for the Six Nations but didn't get a crack, so it is almost like this was the way it was meant to be when I get my first opportunity so my family could actually be here."Darcy Graham was sent off after a second yellow card while Ewan Ashman was also sin-binned in Suva and Burke thinks the Scots can perform better against Samoa if they improve their discipline."I think in parts of that Fiji game we showed how good we are as a team when we get it right, but we got our discipline wrong and ended up making a lot more tackles than we needed to," he expects "a similar challenge to Fiji" but hopes to spend less time on defence against Samoa."I think they are going to be a little more structured than Fiji was - Fiji was quite loose and the looser the game got, the better they got," he suggested."I've got a feeling Samoa are going to kick a little bit more. We know how important this game is and we are pretty focused on getting it right."Burke ended the game playing at full-back after Adam Hastings' introduction."I wasn't expecting that, but I played a little bit of full-back when I was still in New Zealand at Crusaders, so I felt reasonably comfortable there and I enjoyed playing with Adam as well," he added."I thought it was good when he came on and we probably got our most attacking in that last 10 minutes with ball in hand."
BBC News
7 hours ago
- BBC News
Ospreys sign Cardiff hooker Daniel
Cardiff hooker Efan Daniel has joined Ospreys ahead of the 2025-26 made 24 appearances during his time with Cardiff and has played for Wales at Under-20 22-year-old was called up to Wales' senior squad that toured Australia last summer and featured as a replacement against Queensland Reds."The boys and coaches have been great since I got here and have all made me feel welcome, it's like I've been here for a few years instead of a couple weeks," Daniel said."The Ospreys were the team I watched the most growing up, so I'm looking forward to putting on the black jersey and making an impact wherever I can."Ospreys head coach Mark Jones said Daniel was a player he had long admired and said: "It's exciting to have him as part of our setup."We've got a good blend of youth and experience at hooker which is highly important with it being such a specialised position."We feel we're in a really strong position in our front row now and set up well for the season ahead."
BBC News
7 hours ago
- BBC News
Truro City sign striker Jephcott on permanent deal
Truro City have signed striker Luke Jephcott on a permanent deal after he was released by Newport 25-year-old former Wales Under-21 international spent the second half of last season on loan at Truro, scoring six goals in 17 games as the Tinners won National League former Plymouth Argyle forward moved to Newport from Scottish side St Johnstone in January 2024 but failed to score in 32 league and cup matches."I came in during the second half of last season and I just wanted to find my love for football, which I definitely found, back home with Truro," Jephcott told the club website. "Being closer to home was great and it helped to be part of a great group of players and working for great staff too."I met with the club recently and I was told about the ambitions and the direction it was going, so I was really excited to put pen to paper. "Since I came back to Truro, I just wanted to play and help the team. To win the league and create history for Truro City is something that I will never forget."
